Wetwood in Trees: Forest Service Pacific Northwest a Timber Resource Forest and Range Experiment Station General Technical Problem Report PNW- 112 EDITOR's J.C
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United States Department of Agriculture Wetwood in Trees: Forest Service Pacific Northwest A Timber Resource Forest and Range Experiment Station General Technical Problem Report PNW- 112 EDITOR'S J.C. Ward and W.Y. Pong August 1980 FILE COPY This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Mis-scans identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. Abstract Contents Available information on wetwood is pre- Page sented. Wetwood is a type of heartwood which has been internally infused with INTRODUCTION. ............. 1 water. Wetwood is responsible for substantial losses of wood, energy and CHARACTERISTICS OF WETWOOD. ...... 1 production expenditures in the forest prod- ucts industry. CAUSES OF WETWOOD FORMATION ...... 2 The need to evaluate these losses and to WETWOOD IN TREES AND LOGS ....... 4 find ways to eliminate or minimize them is Occurrence. ............. 4 emphasized. Types of Wetwood and Patterns Within the Tree. .......... 8 Because of increased interest in wetwood, excellent opportunities exist in initiating WElWOOD PROPERTIES--A MICROBIAL a comprehensive program of research. Both IMPLICATION .............. 10 short and long-term studies are included in Odor.. ............... 10 the program with the short-term studies Hydrogen Ion Concentration or pH. .. 10 answering the immediate utilization prob- Anaerobiosis. ............ 12 lems created by wetwood and the long-term Strength Properties ......... 12 studies directed at examining the causes of Permeability. ............ 14 wetwood and its control and prevention. ' Chemical Brown Stain Precursors ... 15 TIMBER UTILIZATION AND WOOD PROCESSING PROBLEMS .......... 16 Shake and Frost Cracks. ....... 16 Checking and Collapse ........ 19 Slow Drying Rates and Uneven Metric Equivalents Moisture Content ......... 23 Chemical Brown Stain. ........ 28 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters J Plywood and Reconstituted Boards. .. 32 1 foot = 0.304 8 meter Corrosion of Kilns. ......... 33 1 cubic foot = 0.028 32 cubic meter 1 pound = 0.453' 6 kilogram RESEARCHNEEDS. ............ 34 1 pound/square inch = 0.070 38 kilogram/ Short Term ............. 34 square centimeter LongTerm. ............. 38 5/9 (OF-32) = OC CONCLUSION. .............. 41 LITERATURE CITED. ........... 41 3. C Ward is row-irch forest products technologis:, TJ S Fore:! ?i-cdu.c:ts Laboratory, Madxon, 'bVisconsin. w M. bnq 1s research forest products tcch.;ar;rlogiai, Paczfic Northwest Forest az,d Esnge Exgerirrient Station, Portland, Oregon. Introduction Characteristics of Wetwood This paper summarizes available information on the timber quality characteristic des- cribed as wetwood. Included are some pos- sible causes of wetwood, where it occurs in trees, its properties, and the problems associated with it. The need for research to solve utilization problems associated with wetwood and the processing of logs and products containing it is recognized. With this report as a guide, a concerted Wetwood is a type of heartwood in standing research effort directed at the problem of trees which has been internally infused wetwood can be organized. Such research with water (64, 2, 142). Wood infused will, in the short run, target in on and with water from an external source (e.g*, provide answers to wetwood-related proc- logs exposed to spray, rain, or storage essing problems presently plaguing industry ponds) does not fit this definition. In and, at the same time, build a base of sci- some tree species, wetwood often has a entific knowledge with which to solve the water-soaked translucent appearance and is problem of wetwood in timber stands. variously designated as water core, sinker heart, wet core, wet heart, and discolored wood. When frozen, the water-soaked wetwood appears as a distinct, hard, glossy surface on the ends of winter-cut logs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris 4.) (117) and balsam fir (164)- .&/ In other species, the typical water-soaked appearance may be absent. In this case, wetwood has the appearance of either normal heartwood or it has an unusually dark color. This dark color leads to the term 'I fa Is e " or ''pa tholog ica 1'I hea r twood . Red heart in white or paper birch is a type of wetwood/(z, 68). One type of wetwood in white fir is called blackheart (146). LlScientif ic names of commercial North American tree species mentioned in this report are listed in table 1 (conifers), page 5, and table 2 (hardwoods) I page 6. ?/R. W. Davidson, Colorado State Univer- sity, personal communication to J. C. Ward. 1 Causes of Wetwood Formation In general, wetwood is higher in moisture Wetwood in trees has been attributed to a content than the adjacent normal heart- number of causes: microbial wood. Reports of unusually high moisture (bacterial) , nonmicrobial (injury), and content in heartwood may result from an normal age-growth formation. Associative investigator's inability to recognize relationships have been the basis of many wetwood. In comparison with sapwood, evaluations of the causes of wetwood; wetwood can be higher in moisture content actual tests to confirm cause-and-effect (67,--- 79, 106, -117, -197) or lower or equal relationships have had little success. in moisture (20, 48, 121, 133, 203, 212, 215) . Regardless of external appearance, huch of the research on wetwood has wetwood differs from normal wood in been directed toward investigating the physical and chemical properties and association of bacterial infection and the generally is more difficult to dry, occurrence of wetwood in trees (20, 2, 46, -49, 60, 78, 2, 93, 106, 158, 167, 168, 190, 191, 202, 203, 206, 207, 214, 217, 219). Not all of these studies have found bacteria to be associated with wetwood. Bacteria have frequently been isolated from healthy sapwood and heartwood of living trees (12,13, 40, 107, 144, 190, 3). The concept that wetwood is the result of a mixed population or invasion of more than one species of bacteria could explain some of the differences in results. This concept would be analogous to the suc- cessions of organisms in the development of wood decay and associated discol~orations described by Shigo (171) and Shigo and Hillis (173). Strictly anaerobic bacteria as well as facultative anaerobes have been isolated from wetwood (158, 174, 199, 202, -203, 205, 206, 222). Laboratory techniques for isolating and culturing strictly anaerobic bacteria are different from those for aerobic and facultative anaerobes and fungi. This could explain why investiga- tive results do not always agree about the relative importance of bacteria to forma- tion of wetwood. That wetwood formation or initiation may be nonmicrobial in nature has been suggested 'by some investigators (20, 45, 107, 144) and implied by others (12,40, 190). These investigations conclude that bacteria are part of an indigenous microflora of normal wood, living in a viable but quiescent state until some change occurs in the wood to provide a favorable substrate (wetwood) for the bacterial growth. Bacteria iso- 2 lated from wetwood of poplar utilized toe in true firs/(216) . A fairly con- capillary liquid from sapwood and heartwood sistent association between wetwood and for growth (190). decay has been,noted in eastern Oregon true firs/ and other tree species (2). We have observed that internal heart rot in tree stems often has a peripheral ring of sound wetwood, whereas stems with wetwood do not necessarily have associated decay. There is some belief that wetwood may inhibit decay (93). The inability to consistently associate wetwood with micro-organisms has led to the conclusion that wetwood in conifers is only a condition of excessive accumulation of Wetwooa has been associated with physical, moisture and not a symptom of disease mechanical, and biological injurie&/(20 , (142,- 165) . There are opposing views on the -79, 186). Whether these injuries result in source of the excessive moisture in wetwood formation or initiate it has not wetwood. Some suggest direct entry of been substantiated. Field observations atmospheric moisture through stem openings, have shown that the normal cylindrical form such as dead branch stubs (20);others of wetwood in white fir deviated radially believe water in wetwood has an internal origin from moisture sources in the root and longitudinally to regions of natural * and silvicultural injuries (observations by and stem (9,3). In Japan the Occurrence W. Y. Pong). Similar deviations have been of wet heartwood is considered normal for noted in conjunction with injuries some species of hardwoods and abnormal for apparently caused by insect attack&/(=, conifers (220). Whether formation of -79, 211) and stem cankers of dwarf mistle- wetwood is the result of a natural process of the tree or is bacterial in origin is discussed at length by Hartley, et al. Until additional evidence is ~~~ ~ (E). ?/W. Y. Pong. 1967. Preliminary study of available, we will consider wetwood the grade defects in true firs. 1nterim.rep. manifestation of a syndrome of abnormal USDA For. Serv. Pac. Southwest For. and physiological events in the living tree and Range Exp. Stn., 31 p. Berkeley, Calif. not a specific disease. (Unpublished report on file at Pac. Northwest For. and Range Exp. Stn., 51 J. R. Parmeter, Department of Plant Port land, Oreg ) . Pathology, University of California, 4/ Personal communication to W. Y. POW Berkeley, personal communication to W. Y. from K. R. Shea, Assistant Director, Pong. Science and Education Administration, U.S. /Field observations by P. E. Aho, Department of Agriculture, Washington D.C., Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Corvallis, and from W. W. Wilcox, Forest Products Oreg . Laboratory, University of California, Richmond . 3 Wetwood in Trees and hogs oc cur nc e Wetwood occurs in both conifers and hardwoods, but its frequency can vary by species, age, and growing conditions of trees. Occurrence of wetwood in the more important commercial timber species of North America is presented in table 1 for softwoods and table 2 for hardwoods. Each species is listed by its apparent suscepti- Not all the tree species in class 3 are bility to wetwood formation.